WEBVTT 00:00:00.580 --> 00:00:05.140 We're going to Hebrews 12, so I'm really going to just talk about two verses today. 00:00:05.140 --> 00:00:12.360 We're going to keep this simple in its presentation regarding these two passages of Scripture, 00:00:12.360 --> 00:00:19.380 but in order to set this up I want you to know I love the Olympics. 00:00:20.060 --> 00:00:27.080 It only comes every four years, and those random sports that don't get the recognition that they deserve. 00:00:27.140 --> 00:00:34.220 I mean, where else are you going to go watch a guy with a giant stick launch himself 20 feet into the air, and 00:00:34.220 --> 00:00:38.500 over another stick in order to win a gold medal? 00:00:38.560 --> 00:00:44.500 Or a guy that can just chuck a giant stone so many yards and celebrate that? 00:00:44.500 --> 00:00:51.560 I mean the randomness of the Olympics, and to watch someone tailor their skills towards 00:00:51.560 --> 00:00:55.300 a particular craft is just incredible to me. 00:00:55.420 --> 00:00:59.700 I remember as a young person I've watched the Olympics for the last... 00:01:00.380 --> 00:01:07.420 I don't know, 30 years ago I think my love for it started to grow, and seeing athletes like Carl Lewis, and 00:01:07.720 --> 00:01:13.820 Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and Rulon Gardner, and Mia Hamm, I mean it was exciting to see. 00:01:13.820 --> 00:01:17.220 I think one of my favorites athletes during the Atlanta Olympics... 00:01:17.780 --> 00:01:19.740 I don't know it you remember this one, Michael Johnson. 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:24.500 I mean this guy was so bold, he was so confident in his ability. 00:01:24.620 --> 00:01:29.460 The man wore golden shoes as he ran around the track in the 400 meter, 200 meter. 00:01:29.740 --> 00:01:32.320 Breaks the world record in both of that in the Olympic record. 00:01:33.220 --> 00:01:38.060 I always remember as a kid being captivated about it, you dream your dreams. 00:01:38.220 --> 00:01:41.800 Bruce Springsteen in the background board, in the U.S... 00:01:42.080 --> 00:01:42.300 whatever. 00:01:42.940 --> 00:01:46.900 That's going to be me, the podium getting the gold medal one day. 00:01:46.900 --> 00:01:52.540 There's the patriotism, I think as what Olympics were is diminished in what it was in the past. 00:01:52.540 --> 00:01:55.590 But, well how about this one, you can't forget about the Dream Team. 00:01:55.980 --> 00:01:58.500 We're talking about John Stockton, right? 00:01:58.540 --> 00:02:02.560 And Karl Malone, and all the two Jazz players, along with the rest of them... 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:05.860 they're not as important as the Jazz players, but there they are right? 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:14.080 Then watching the Olympics and all these wonderful sports, something began to happen to me. 00:02:14.940 --> 00:02:22.200 I started to get older, and I realized my opportunity for a gold medal is 00:02:22.200 --> 00:02:22.700 diminishing. 00:02:24.260 --> 00:02:31.500 But then redemption happened in the form of the Winter Olympics, and lo and behold I was introduced 00:02:31.500 --> 00:02:38.740 then to my new favorite athlete Matt Hamilton of the Curling Team and 00:02:38.740 --> 00:02:40.980 my dream lives on, right? 00:02:40.980 --> 00:02:48.040 I mean Matt Hamilton is the guy on the right sporting the incredible stash there, and wearing that on the 00:02:48.040 --> 00:02:48.760 world stage. 00:02:49.420 --> 00:02:49.420 Right? 00:02:49.420 --> 00:02:54.140 It was like, "Just shave." He's like, "No." There is some confidence in that guy really. 00:02:54.680 --> 00:03:01.840 Matt Hamilton has redeemed my opportunity to win the Olympics, so the Olympics 00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:04.540 for me it's a joy to watch that. 00:03:04.540 --> 00:03:11.600 But it's been something in history that I think people have been captivated by, Olympics 00:03:11.600 --> 00:03:14.460 go back to the pre-Jesus days. 00:03:14.480 --> 00:03:21.760 The competitions that took place, and how the Greeks and the Romans pursued athletic 00:03:21.760 --> 00:03:28.900 contests not just for physical wellbeing, but there was also honor in their talents and countries as they competed for the 00:03:28.900 --> 00:03:32.660 glory for the local places in which they represented in these games. 00:03:33.160 --> 00:03:40.520 On the backdrop of the thought of the possibility of winning gold medals, and 00:03:40.520 --> 00:03:46.860 competing, and the honor that's there that the author of Hebrews writes, Hebrews 12. 00:03:46.980 --> 00:03:50.740 He starts it off this way, he says, "Therefore..." summary word, right? 00:03:50.740 --> 00:03:57.860 Now in light of everything that you've heard, "Therefore since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us..." talking 00:03:57.860 --> 00:04:00.520 to you and I as believers in Christ, "... 00:04:00.520 --> 00:04:05.280 let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so, and easily entangles us. 00:04:05.440 --> 00:04:12.700 Let us run with endurance, the race that is set before us." When I think about this verse, I'm like, "You've 00:04:12.700 --> 00:04:16.760 got me until the word endurance." 'Cause I don't know... 00:04:16.760 --> 00:04:19.649 sometimes I'll just joke with my wife, I'm like, "How do you want me to walk around today? 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:20.200 Like this? 00:04:20.279 --> 00:04:20.540 Like this? 00:04:20.760 --> 00:04:25.000 Or like this?" It's like I don't have the endurance I used to have. 00:04:25.200 --> 00:04:32.220 I just humiliated myself in public there, but talking about endurance it's recognizing that 00:04:32.220 --> 00:04:36.880 there is some effort that takes place in what's being discussed here. 00:04:37.220 --> 00:04:43.960 Running with endurance is this idea of a summary from chapter 1 to chapter 11. 00:04:45.700 --> 00:04:51.120 We've seen in these chapters the beauty of who Christ is and what that represents for you. 00:04:51.260 --> 00:04:58.340 If you're just joining us I'm sorry that I just rudely put this in a summary for you because the picture of Hebrews is incredible for 00:04:58.340 --> 00:04:59.540 the life of a Christian. 00:04:59.860 --> 00:05:06.080 What is communicated to us that everything in the past that you see in the Old Testament was a shadow. 00:05:06.920 --> 00:05:11.040 Colossians 2 talks about that, Hebrews 9:24 talks about that. 00:05:11.060 --> 00:05:16.110 It is a shadow of something greater that is coming, and what is coming is Jesus. 00:05:16.540 --> 00:05:20.640 Jesus is the fulfillment of all those things, Jesus is Prophet, Priest, and King. 00:05:20.680 --> 00:05:23.220 Jesus is Temple, Sabbath, and Sacrifice. 00:05:23.260 --> 00:05:29.480 Jesus fulfills the law, Jesus is all of it and He established the new covenant that we could come into relationship with Him. 00:05:29.780 --> 00:05:36.860 All of it culminates in Christ, and the purpose for which we are created is to know Jesus as He desires to make Himself known in 00:05:36.860 --> 00:05:37.680 our lives. 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:44.940 We're created for relationship in Christ, and so all of Hebrews is painting this picture of the beauty of who Christ is. 00:05:44.980 --> 00:05:55.480 It is fueling the fire for us in passion in Jesus, and now it's saying, "In Christ now run." And 00:05:55.480 --> 00:06:03.080 the picture for us is in the middle of this stadium, being 00:06:03.080 --> 00:06:05.700 surrounded by a great crowd of witnesses. 00:06:08.060 --> 00:06:15.320 Knowing that now is your race, run this race with 00:06:15.320 --> 00:06:16.100 endurance. 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:25.740 Some people have wondered, "What do people do in heaven?" And 00:06:25.740 --> 00:06:32.840 they've actually used this verse to illustrate some of the thoughts of what people might do in heaven, and they 00:06:32.840 --> 00:06:35.820 take this word "Witness" and they make it mean spectator. 00:06:35.960 --> 00:06:39.700 I want to say that's not the only thing it means, but just think about this for a minute. 00:06:39.700 --> 00:06:40.960 What do people do in heaven? 00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:48.100 The picture is like, here are all of these saints that you've just read about them in chapter 11, and they're this cloud of 00:06:48.100 --> 00:06:48.860 witnesses now. 00:06:48.960 --> 00:06:51.230 They've run their race, and now here they are. 00:06:51.260 --> 00:06:58.380 As you step into the arena, and you begin to run your race you've been surrounded by such a great crowd of 00:06:58.380 --> 00:06:59.120 witnesses. 00:06:59.200 --> 00:07:01.720 People often ask, "Do people in heaven... 00:07:01.720 --> 00:07:08.880 are they aware of what we are doing on earth?" Now I think Peter in 1 Peter 00:07:08.880 --> 00:07:15.940 1:12 he talks about even the angels long to look into what God is doing in the 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:17.180 course of history. 00:07:18.960 --> 00:07:26.660 We as individuals we think about Jesus and His faithfulness, in Hebrews 13:8 it says, "Jesus is the same yesterday, today, 00:07:26.660 --> 00:07:32.240 and forever." So I think as human beings we are seeing unfold... 00:07:32.240 --> 00:07:35.040 I think we'll be completely aware of the course of history. 00:07:35.040 --> 00:07:42.080 How God has laid out His redemption story because it would ultimately inspire the praise of His people for Him in all 00:07:42.080 --> 00:07:42.780 of eternity. 00:07:43.940 --> 00:07:51.120 So I don't think the people who have gone before us are ignorant of what has taken place in the course if history, I think they're aware of it to 00:07:51.120 --> 00:07:51.740 the glory of God. 00:07:51.980 --> 00:07:59.280 In fact if I use proof texts I would say not so much Hebrews 12, but I think Mathew 17 when the disciples 00:07:59.280 --> 00:08:06.340 went with Jesus to the Mount of Transfiguration it talks about Moses and Elijah coming down and conversing with Jesus. 00:08:06.460 --> 00:08:12.800 A couple of interesting things you can learn from that passage second hand that one; they recognized Moses and Elijah. 00:08:14.360 --> 00:08:16.560 How could they recognize Moses and Elijah after they've passed... 00:08:16.560 --> 00:08:21.790 I think Moses and Elijah had a form that represented what they looked like in their earthly bodies as they walked in this world. 00:08:22.840 --> 00:08:29.620 So they recognized Moses and Elijah, and also Moses and Elijah are talking to Jesus about the story of redemption. 00:08:31.660 --> 00:08:39.000 What He is accomplishing in history for us in this moment, so much that the disciples said, "Can we put up three pillars to remember this?" And in 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:46.120 Israel's history when something monumental happened in their lives they would do something in order to commemorate that moment, 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:47.210 that day because it created... 00:08:47.400 --> 00:08:49.160 it helped shape an identity of who they were. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:57.040 I think it's important for your families, I don't think it's good to become legalistic and just create a bunch of rules, and then forget the reason 00:08:57.040 --> 00:08:58.320 why you do the things that you do. 00:08:58.580 --> 00:09:01.560 I think it's important to be intentional in the way that you do things. 00:09:02.020 --> 00:09:09.300 But there are things that happened in the history of your family that define why your family is the way that they are, and hopefully those 00:09:09.300 --> 00:09:12.180 things are refined in Jesus. 00:09:12.180 --> 00:09:12.280 Right? 00:09:13.080 --> 00:09:19.640 But I think it's important to go back and remember those moments that helped shape where you are today, or who you are today. 00:09:21.040 --> 00:09:28.080 The disciples are doing the same thing in Mathew 17, but they're teaching us about the picture of those who have gone before us, and here they are 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:30.060 talking with Jesus aware of the circumstances. 00:09:30.560 --> 00:09:34.820 When I think about people that have gone onto eternity, are they aware of what happens today? 00:09:34.880 --> 00:09:35.330 I think so. 00:09:36.560 --> 00:09:43.710 But I also want to say that I wouldn't use this verse to primarily teach that, I think it's important to say they're witnesses. 00:09:44.220 --> 00:09:51.380 So the word "Witness" can be translated spectator, but there's a little more to this idea of witness. 00:09:51.400 --> 00:09:58.640 When you think about this for a minute, the author just said you're an arena and everyone's looking 00:09:58.660 --> 00:09:59.420 at you. 00:09:59.980 --> 00:10:00.520 Right? 00:10:00.520 --> 00:10:02.900 For what? 00:10:02.900 --> 00:10:10.060 It's like, "Put me in the..." I mean 20 years ago, maybe I could have come in with a close to last finish that wouldn't 00:10:10.060 --> 00:10:13.480 have looked so bad, but we're talking about competing today. 00:10:13.480 --> 00:10:16.840 It's like, "I know I'm going to get 10 feet across that line, I'm going to pull [inaudible 00:10:16]. 00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:19.560 This is not going good. 00:10:19.900 --> 00:10:26.940 Is there a heavier weight running class I can go in because I've not trained for this." "You did so great." The cloud of witnesses, and they're just 00:10:26.940 --> 00:10:29.240 clapping they're like, "Just cheer him on. 00:10:29.240 --> 00:10:36.260 Do you think he's going to cross even the finish line?" "I don't know." "Let's just hope he doesn't pull a muscle or break 00:10:36.260 --> 00:10:42.920 a leg doing what he's going to do." I think about when I was a younger kid competing in athletics, like in football I could break an arm man. 00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:48.300 I'd break an arm, I'm like, "I'm in, just put me in coach." Just running, and now I get a [inaudible 00:10:47] I'm like, "I'm out. 00:10:48.300 --> 00:10:49.060 I'm out of here. 00:10:49.240 --> 00:10:56.500 Oh Lord it hurts, I am not running this race." But when it talks about such a great cloud of witnesses 00:10:56.500 --> 00:11:02.820 this is where it becomes important for us, because this word witness doesn't just mean spectator. 00:11:04.780 --> 00:11:11.960 It's actually where we get the english word for martyr, and what 00:11:11.960 --> 00:11:20.380 it's actually saying in this passage, these Scriptures they're now bearing witness of us but 00:11:20.380 --> 00:11:22.540 rather bearing witness to us. 00:11:24.440 --> 00:11:31.620 This great cloud of witnesses are surrounding the arena to bear witness to 00:11:31.620 --> 00:11:39.040 us that Jesus is faithful and we are able in Him to finish this race, 00:11:41.640 --> 00:11:45.660 it's not about your strength it's about His. 00:11:48.020 --> 00:11:55.100 So you think about the pressure of what this moment could be without the understanding of witnesses, it's saying all these people in Hebrews 11 they ran the 00:11:55.100 --> 00:11:55.480 race. 00:11:55.480 --> 00:11:58.140 Look at them, they're spiritual giants and now they out you in. 00:12:00.460 --> 00:12:01.150 What are you going to do? 00:12:03.500 --> 00:12:04.320 Everyone's watching. 00:12:06.340 --> 00:12:10.600 The weight of the world is on your shoulders, how are you going to do that? 00:12:12.700 --> 00:12:17.240 You're not trained for this, you don't have the strength for this. 00:12:19.020 --> 00:12:23.800 And the witnesses are saying, "We know, that's why we're here to cheer you on. 00:12:25.640 --> 00:12:31.880 Not to find the strength within yourself, but to see that as we trusted in Jesus He supplied what we needed. 00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:39.560 Now we're not here to bear witness of what you're doing, we're here to bear witness of what Jesus has done. 00:12:41.170 --> 00:12:48.780 You can run this race, you can cross that finish line." So 00:12:48.780 --> 00:12:50.960 let's just specifically ask then... 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:58.620 because this text unfolds that for us, "how do we run the race before us?" 00:12:59.020 --> 00:13:09.120 Because what this verse is saying to you is, "Put your neck up, strive. 00:13:11.040 --> 00:13:12.160 Lay it all on the line. 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:21.380 In His grace display the glory of who Christ is." How do we run the race? 00:13:23.300 --> 00:13:30.480 The imagery for which the author selected here, I love because in the days of the 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:35.460 early church you'd think there is no internet, and you can just say... 00:13:36.120 --> 00:13:38.340 no joke there, there's no cellphones, you know that. 00:13:38.840 --> 00:13:42.960 But I mean there's not a lot of easy avenues to get news, you know? 00:13:44.220 --> 00:13:47.160 There's not a lot of large places for gathering. 00:13:47.520 --> 00:13:55.500 They did have some in the culture this day, but by far the largest place you could go to meet people, and 00:13:55.540 --> 00:14:00.120 to rub shoulders, and to enjoy company, it was at these games. 00:14:01.600 --> 00:14:08.760 In fact the political leaders knew it too, and if they wanted to share new news from the emperor, if they had some kind of platform 00:14:08.800 --> 00:14:15.820 they wanted to promote, everyone knew if you wanted to know the latest and greatest things happening in Rome, the place that you would assemble is at 00:14:15.820 --> 00:14:16.860 the Olympic games. 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:19.060 As you gather together everyone is there, right? 00:14:19.080 --> 00:14:26.460 And so everyone would gather, and then in would walk the dignitaries, or the leaders of the area, or over the region, 00:14:26.820 --> 00:14:29.480 or sometimes if it was important enough, the leader of leaders. 00:14:29.480 --> 00:14:36.860 They would come to these games and everyone would watch and look, because he was the one that provided what it took to have this competition 00:14:36.860 --> 00:14:38.120 to begin with. 00:14:38.400 --> 00:14:45.440 When he would gather he would stand in a prominent place, and he would use this as an opportunity to share recent news with the people 00:14:45.460 --> 00:14:46.000 at the games. 00:14:46.080 --> 00:14:48.840 That's how everything spread in the society. 00:14:50.500 --> 00:14:59.040 When the athletes would come on to the field for the competition they would come before the leader, and 00:14:59.040 --> 00:15:02.840 they would dedicate that competition for his glory. 00:15:06.040 --> 00:15:13.260 Here you see in Hebrews chapter 12 now that the imagery of all of that, rather than doing it for the cause 00:15:13.260 --> 00:15:20.300 of man, he's lifting it, and elevating it beyond that scope to the idea of living your life in light of God to 00:15:20.540 --> 00:15:23.620 how do we run the race that's before us? 00:15:23.620 --> 00:15:31.100 In Hebrews chapter 12:1, and 2 it says this, it says, "Therefore since we all have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding 00:15:31.100 --> 00:15:38.120 us, let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us. 00:15:38.920 --> 00:15:46.280 Let us run with endurance the race that is before us fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of 00:15:46.280 --> 00:15:53.460 faith." In these verses he's really outlining for us three ideas; 00:15:53.460 --> 00:15:59.860 he's saying it's about understanding that all this happens in this arena for the glory of God. 00:16:02.260 --> 00:16:06.430 Your competition, your race running, it's not about you, it's not about your strength. 00:16:06.520 --> 00:16:13.190 It's understanding that it is this King that's even provided the platform to have opportunity to live for Him in His glory today. 00:16:13.280 --> 00:16:17.240 God didn't owe me today, in fact God doesn't owe me anything. 00:16:18.920 --> 00:16:25.340 Here I am on His platform, in this moment to run a race for His glory. 00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:34.340 Then He in that thought of running the race He positions that statement between two ideas; to lay aside the encumbrance and sin 00:16:34.340 --> 00:16:39.650 in order to run, and to ultimately look to Jesus. 00:16:42.600 --> 00:16:46.260 He is not just the One we live for, He is the finish line itself. 00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:52.160 What does it look like for us to lay aside the encumbrances and sin? 00:16:54.800 --> 00:16:57.150 How is that modeled in our life? 00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:05.839 You know if I thought about it specifically in these chapters that we've read together, I 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:12.940 think in the life of the Jews as this was written, the thing that would hinder them from running that race 00:17:14.339 --> 00:17:14.880 was unbelief. 00:17:16.940 --> 00:17:24.300 They held on to the past that they were familiar with, the religious legalistic living as pressure was applied to them from the relationships 00:17:24.300 --> 00:17:25.180 they had in life. 00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:34.060 Because of that they walked in unbelief of what Jesus has done for them on the cross, and so 00:17:34.060 --> 00:17:39.180 they moved into religious way of thinking rather than into Christ Himself. 00:17:41.920 --> 00:17:48.880 But you know that's just the context in their circumstance, and all of us the reason we pursue anything other than Jesus is because of unbelief. 00:17:51.200 --> 00:17:59.160 We think the truth of who God is doesn't compare to the lie that might promise us, or we hope that it would deliver us more so 00:17:59.160 --> 00:18:03.220 we walk in the lie rather than the truth of Who Jesus is. 00:18:04.680 --> 00:18:11.200 And in the sin of unbelief, lacking of faith in Christ we pursue the other things in this world, and we find ourselves encumbered in sin. 00:18:14.900 --> 00:18:24.480 Even the life of Christian, and running this race, it can be a place of humbleness 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:25.260 in us really. 00:18:26.920 --> 00:18:32.360 I think of my new favorite athlete Matt Hamilton, run the race with endurance. 00:18:32.580 --> 00:18:36.460 I saw pictures of Matt Hamilton, he's made for this... 00:18:37.780 --> 00:18:38.640 and this... 00:18:39.660 --> 00:18:42.080 just the two curling moves, that's it. 00:18:42.080 --> 00:18:43.560 Sweeping the ice, and pushing the little... 00:18:43.940 --> 00:18:45.000 that's not endurance, right? 00:18:47.520 --> 00:18:49.970 I mean you can have a nice out of shape body. 00:18:51.580 --> 00:18:52.450 Round is a shape. 00:18:57.080 --> 00:19:01.840 Run the race with endurance, it can be timid. 00:19:05.640 --> 00:19:11.720 Sticking your neck out for Christ, trusting the sufficiency of His grace. 00:19:13.760 --> 00:19:20.640 Sometimes Christians I think start off in faith, and then we begin to live in this world as if Satan is bigger than Jesus. 00:19:22.120 --> 00:19:26.540 We're like, "It's all ahead, and nowhere fast. 00:19:26.540 --> 00:19:29.060 It's just darkness and doomsday before us. 00:19:29.440 --> 00:19:36.700 I want to hunker down, and just hold on to my Jesus." And then you read verses like I John 4:4 00:19:36.700 --> 00:19:43.800 it says, "Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world." And if you looked at I John 4 and you saw what that sandwiched around, it's 00:19:43.800 --> 00:19:47.160 around false teachers influencing society around you. 00:19:47.400 --> 00:19:54.520 In the middle of those statements and trying the spirits of whether they were God because many false prophets are going into the world, it gives this statement on the backdrop 00:19:54.540 --> 00:19:56.730 that greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. 00:19:58.320 --> 00:19:59.310 What in the world are you hiding from? 00:20:01.420 --> 00:20:03.100 Understanding what Jesus is... 00:20:03.380 --> 00:20:10.980 I mean I know my favorite verse in Scripture when I think about living in light of Jesus is absolutely Mathew 16:18 00:20:13.240 --> 00:20:15.620 that we would storm down the gates of hell. 00:20:17.960 --> 00:20:21.060 Now if you think about the power of what that is, with a mighty fortress. 00:20:21.060 --> 00:20:21.560 I mean that's what... 00:20:21.780 --> 00:20:24.260 it's like a castle and the gates of hell. 00:20:24.560 --> 00:20:31.840 And you think about that fortress that is that representation, and Jesus is like, "Yeah, you're storming it down." And 00:20:31.840 --> 00:20:38.920 when He makes that statement, He's making it with just a handful of His disciples outside of a temple in which they are worshiping pagan 00:20:38.920 --> 00:20:42.920 gods and hellish deities. 00:20:45.460 --> 00:20:53.560 Imagine you're like, " I am a fisherman with just a little education, and Jesus is going crazy." Right? 00:20:55.120 --> 00:21:00.160 That's what He's getting us to understand, we're running this race. 00:21:01.080 --> 00:21:08.140 Or the idea the other side of this as a believer is you're confident in what Jesus has done in you, 00:21:08.340 --> 00:21:12.540 then your confidence switches from Christ and it starts resting on you. 00:21:12.540 --> 00:21:19.700 Like, "Now it's all on my shoulders, and so I'm going to do this." And you start just loading yourself up on all these tasks, and running yourself 00:21:19.700 --> 00:21:20.400 into ground. 00:21:22.420 --> 00:21:29.520 You know I've shared with us in these last couple of weeks especially, you're not going to get to 00:21:29.520 --> 00:21:31.930 the end of your life and God's going to be like, "You know what? 00:21:32.540 --> 00:21:38.240 You only accomplished 30 of the 7,000 things I wanted you to do, I'm going to have to send you back down there. 00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:42.240 You've got 6,970 to go." That's not what He's after. 00:21:45.700 --> 00:21:53.380 God knows where you're at, God knows the way He's gifted you, God 00:21:53.380 --> 00:21:57.710 knows the struggles you face and the triumphs that you climb and celebrate. 00:21:57.820 --> 00:21:58.620 He knows all that. 00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:06.780 His expectation isn't this punch card to-do-list in order to receive His love, He's already given His love. 00:22:09.380 --> 00:22:16.220 His expectation is just you, that's your faithfulness as He has demonstrated Himself faithfully. 00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:25.240 Jesus is after your heart, and here's the reality guys, when Jesus gets your heart He changes 00:22:25.240 --> 00:22:25.720 your life. 00:22:28.520 --> 00:22:35.440 It's saying to us in this passage that fix our eyes on Jesus. 00:22:37.160 --> 00:22:44.900 Notice it doesn't say, "Fix your eyes on the 7,000 things you need to accomplish." Our goal 00:22:44.900 --> 00:22:48.420 is not obedience. 00:22:51.080 --> 00:22:52.470 That sounds crazy, doesn't it? 00:22:54.560 --> 00:22:59.500 Our goal this morning is not obedience, our goal is Jesus. 00:23:02.620 --> 00:23:09.820 When your goal is Jesus, the results can be obedience, and it should be modeling Christ 00:23:09.820 --> 00:23:10.820 in this world. 00:23:12.120 --> 00:23:19.340 But we don't make the goal itself just simply doing good, because you can run that 00:23:19.340 --> 00:23:23.550 race all day long and never know Jesus. 00:23:25.520 --> 00:23:33.040 In fact Mathew 7:24, 25, Jesus is having this illustration here and he is saying, "Many 00:23:33.040 --> 00:23:36.760 will come to Me saying that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name? 00:23:36.800 --> 00:23:37.760 Did we not cast out demons? 00:23:37.780 --> 00:23:45.280 Did we not do many wonderful works in Your name?'" And Jesus says, "Depart from me, I 00:23:45.280 --> 00:23:54.780 never knew you." The goal isn't obedience, the 00:23:54.780 --> 00:23:55.660 goal is Jesus. 00:23:57.900 --> 00:23:58.980 The result is obedience. 00:23:59.020 --> 00:24:07.240 So you may think like this as a parent, you can force your kids to obey, but 00:24:07.240 --> 00:24:08.060 never get their heart. 00:24:10.340 --> 00:24:15.260 But if you get their heart, they respond in joy to obey. 00:24:18.700 --> 00:24:25.780 When you think about running this race, it is so important these first 11 chapters to let that saturate your soul in 00:24:25.780 --> 00:24:28.130 the sufficiency of Christ. 00:24:30.840 --> 00:24:32.980 Purpose fuels passion. 00:24:35.720 --> 00:24:37.350 You see the reason for which you were created. 00:24:37.460 --> 00:24:38.440 I'm created to belong. 00:24:38.740 --> 00:24:45.940 There's no one that has ever pursued me to this degree, that's ever loved me to the depth that Jesus loves me, and now is my moment to 00:24:45.940 --> 00:24:52.670 just respond in my life in love in return because of what Christ has done. 00:24:54.080 --> 00:25:01.180 Then walking in that relationship in faithfulness to Him, the fruit of my life, the result of my life 00:25:01.500 --> 00:25:04.460 it's obedience but it was never the goal. 00:25:07.230 --> 00:25:08.400 The goal is Jesus. 00:25:11.720 --> 00:25:19.440 So like Paul says Galatians 2:20, "I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless it is not I who live but Christ Who lives in 00:25:19.440 --> 00:25:26.680 me." I like the 00:25:26.680 --> 00:25:34.460 way Amy Carmichael said, she says it like this, "It's possible to give and 00:25:34.460 --> 00:25:41.920 not love, but it is impossible to truly love and 00:25:41.920 --> 00:25:49.300 not give." Our goal, our finish line 00:25:51.640 --> 00:25:52.340 is Christ. 00:25:54.140 --> 00:26:01.400 Now you put this in the context of athletic games that we see today from television, so pause for a moment: an athlete steps 00:26:01.480 --> 00:26:07.320 on the field, and all of a sudden he stops listening to the coach, and the objective of the game. 00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:11.880 All of a sudden he starts to listen to the opinion of everyone else in the stands. 00:26:13.880 --> 00:26:19.500 Can you imagine 20, 30,000 people, and the voices that are spoken just get amplified. 00:26:20.380 --> 00:26:27.720 Opinion, after opinion, and here you are finding yourself on this field trying to run this race, and all of a sudden you're just lost in the 00:26:27.720 --> 00:26:34.780 intents and the purposes that you forget the goal and you start to fumble and to bumble as 00:26:34.780 --> 00:26:36.280 you move forward. 00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:45.820 Can I tell you living here in Utah, one of the privileges I've had the opportunity to do is meet with many of pastors, and 00:26:45.860 --> 00:26:49.460 just church planters and encourage them where they are in life. 00:26:51.000 --> 00:26:58.400 One of the biggest reasons I found that people get discouraged on mission field, 00:26:58.420 --> 00:27:06.440 or in ministry is they start listening to the 10,000 opinions and 00:27:06.440 --> 00:27:07.720 they stop losing sight of why. 00:27:11.220 --> 00:27:13.180 'Cause your why matters. 00:27:14.800 --> 00:27:16.240 Why do you do what you do? 00:27:18.320 --> 00:27:20.820 Your purpose fuels your passion. 00:27:23.320 --> 00:27:30.540 I can tell you in my own life when I face adversities and obstacles, my heart runs to some specific 00:27:30.780 --> 00:27:31.700 places in this valley. 00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:39.160 Because I have programmed my brain to say, "Nathaniel, when you face hardships..." and just so you know, I'm never leaving this place all right? 00:27:39.160 --> 00:27:41.400 So body bag is how you get me to go. 00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:49.680 But when I think about then obstacles that I've seen in ministry, there 00:27:49.680 --> 00:27:52.160 is a place that I just come to within my life... 00:27:52.380 --> 00:27:55.520 physically I go there to let my heart resonate on the why. 00:27:56.400 --> 00:28:01.680 Now look, you can't control your context, you can't dictate what happens, right? 00:28:04.840 --> 00:28:12.600 But to understand that this is your time to run the race, to 00:28:12.600 --> 00:28:16.760 meet Jesus face to face and say, "look God, I wasn't in control of the results, you were. 00:28:20.520 --> 00:28:21.210 But I'm faithful. 00:28:23.060 --> 00:28:30.120 I want to be faithful." I didn't take my eyes off, in fact this idea of 00:28:30.120 --> 00:28:37.480 looking unto Jesus is this sustained looking in your life, it's this committing over and over 00:28:37.480 --> 00:28:45.120 as to the objective that you desire to achieve in Jesus this race of endurance. 00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:52.460 It goes a little further and says it like this, "Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith Who for the joy set before Him endured the 00:28:52.460 --> 00:28:54.460 cross despising the shame. 00:28:54.500 --> 00:29:01.800 He sat down at the right Hand of the throne of God." I mean you saw all the examples in Hebrews chapter 11 of faithfulness, but Jesus is the ultimate example. 00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:07.520 He is describing Christ as enduring all the things that He went through in life, for what? 00:29:07.560 --> 00:29:08.320 The ultimate goal. 00:29:08.340 --> 00:29:09.430 And what was the ultimate goal? 00:29:09.600 --> 00:29:15.120 It was a story of redemption being told as He was faithful to relationship and the Father for your benefit. 00:29:18.140 --> 00:29:20.100 The story of redemption being worked out. 00:29:20.200 --> 00:29:27.220 Now when I think about running this race faithfulness, it's God's story of redemption being worked out in my life and 00:29:27.220 --> 00:29:27.840 others. 00:29:28.060 --> 00:29:29.240 Being simply... 00:29:29.520 --> 00:29:36.740 having a front row to see how God does that in me and through me as I faithfully walk in light of who He is. 00:29:39.120 --> 00:29:46.120 When I think of church history, and those that stand of examples of faithfulness in adversity, 00:29:46.500 --> 00:29:50.500 one that I love is a lady by the name of Amy Carmichael. 00:29:52.360 --> 00:29:57.760 She was born in 1867, I believe she lived into the 1950s. 00:29:57.940 --> 00:29:59.230 She was influenced... 00:30:00.660 --> 00:30:06.400 I think it was Hudson Taylor that influenced her life, and she tried to become a missionary to China. 00:30:06.440 --> 00:30:09.180 She was actually turned down because she had a lot of health problems. 00:30:09.740 --> 00:30:10.520 And she ends up... 00:30:10.680 --> 00:30:14.440 she didn't give up, she decided that God was still leading her on the mission field. 00:30:14.660 --> 00:30:20.500 She ends up in India, caring for orphan children in some of the most horrific conditions. 00:30:22.560 --> 00:30:29.680 Her influence and impact is incredible, so much so that the children she raised today are still alive and now caring that 00:30:29.680 --> 00:30:31.620 work on in India. 00:30:32.880 --> 00:30:37.530 But when she thinks about running the race, I mean she takes the end of Hebrews chapter 12 in her thought. 00:30:37.580 --> 00:30:45.060 Look at this quote, "When I consider the cross of Christ, how can anything that I do be called a sacrifice?" In 00:30:45.100 --> 00:30:52.500 comparison of seeing the way Jesus loved us, the depth that He has gone, there in no way when I'm running that race would I ever relate to anything Christ has done. 00:30:52.500 --> 00:30:58.280 How much easier it is for me to respond in love to a God that has loved me to that depth? 00:31:00.480 --> 00:31:02.460 It's not so much a sacrifice as it is a joy. 00:31:05.220 --> 00:31:12.220 Amy Carmichael understood this to the point that in order to relate to the people in India she would actually take baths, she 00:31:12.220 --> 00:31:19.700 would stain her skin in coffee grounds in order to look more dark in complexion 00:31:19.700 --> 00:31:22.200 to better relate to the people and reach these kids. 00:31:24.140 --> 00:31:30.320 I mean she went to extremes so much so they say the end of her life, the last 20 years, she spent most of it bedridden but refused to give up. 00:31:32.980 --> 00:31:34.520 She ran with endurance. 00:31:36.280 --> 00:31:42.020 I am not Amy Carmichael in India, I am Nathaniel Wall in Utah, right? 00:31:43.320 --> 00:31:44.080 So what does that look like? 00:31:46.320 --> 00:31:51.100 When you think about making application here, what does your race look like? 00:31:52.460 --> 00:31:56.260 If you're going to run this with endurance what does your race look like? 00:31:56.480 --> 00:31:57.420 The goal... 00:31:57.440 --> 00:32:04.010 for all of us, the goal never changes but the context can. 00:32:06.260 --> 00:32:13.360 The context of your life, the seasons that you go through can be different, what 00:32:13.360 --> 00:32:14.690 does your race look like? 00:32:16.480 --> 00:32:22.280 For a spouse, for kids, how do you run that race? 00:32:25.080 --> 00:32:32.180 In your job, in your church, in your community, how 00:32:32.180 --> 00:32:33.220 do people see you run that race? 00:32:35.100 --> 00:32:36.610 Do they see you as a Jesus runner? 00:32:38.540 --> 00:32:42.080 Your goal never changes, but your context does. 00:32:42.100 --> 00:32:49.600 Can I tell you, one of the things I've really appreciated over the last year or so here at ABC is that when we first started out church, we 00:32:49.600 --> 00:32:56.640 had a gamut of different people, but mostly I think what we had was parents with 00:32:56.640 --> 00:32:59.240 young families. 00:32:59.990 --> 00:33:04.520 I think they were the only ones crazy enough to jump on board there in the beginning. 00:33:04.780 --> 00:33:10.030 We had more than that, but I think that was predominantly how our church started, with that demographic. 00:33:10.780 --> 00:33:17.900 But as we've moved forward, and seeing stability, one of the things I've really enjoyed even over the last year to seeing how our age demographics have moved away 00:33:17.900 --> 00:33:23.560 from that and now all of a sudden it's like the last year or two we've seen more in the young adult age. 00:33:23.940 --> 00:33:25.590 Then some of our wiser senior... 00:33:25.960 --> 00:33:33.440 I'm not going to call you guys older, but you're wiser, and more experienced in life, 00:33:33.580 --> 00:33:40.580 how beautiful that is for the church because when you think about running this race, here's what you need; you need people before you that have run that 00:33:40.580 --> 00:33:40.980 race. 00:33:42.440 --> 00:33:46.620 Hebrews 11 shows that, you've been surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, run this race with endurance. 00:33:46.900 --> 00:33:52.880 I can tell you as a young guy when you go through things in your life for the first time, it is a great time to spaz and freak out. 00:33:52.880 --> 00:34:00.100 Then you look at some of the older generations, and they're like, "Oh yeah that happened to me 17 times." And you're like, "Wait a minute, did you spaz like I'm spazzing?" I mean right now 00:34:00.100 --> 00:34:04.940 it seems like everyone should always panic when they go through this, and wisdom and life teaches you that thing. 00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:12.480 So you think at a church, the healthy context, the beauty of what God does here is when you get someone in their 20s and they're thinking about the next step of life, you 00:34:12.480 --> 00:34:15.300 have opportunity of people in 30s and 40s to pour into that. 00:34:15.300 --> 00:34:20.920 When you get to 40s and 50s, different context, a different way of running the race, what does that look like? 00:34:21.219 --> 00:34:28.000 Men, don't isolate yourself because there's someone here that's run that race all the way into the older generations. 00:34:28.400 --> 00:34:30.170 Guys I want to tell you, in our state... 00:34:30.940 --> 00:34:36.719 we are a young state, if there's anything to honor in life, is those golden years. 00:34:38.360 --> 00:34:45.440 Any wisdom to glean from, any people to just elevate, honor, listen 00:34:45.440 --> 00:34:50.409 to, respect, don't waste those resources. 00:34:52.820 --> 00:34:58.720 It's an opportunity God's placed before us, a great cloud of witnesses to run this race. 00:34:58.780 --> 00:35:01.460 What is the context of your race? 00:35:02.160 --> 00:35:04.200 Can I get specific here? 00:35:04.200 --> 00:35:06.840 I know I need to close, so let me just get specific for just a minute. 00:35:07.630 --> 00:35:12.500 Ladies I want to leave you out for a second, but I just want to talk to our men. 00:35:15.420 --> 00:35:18.350 I want to encourage you to run this race with endurance. 00:35:20.800 --> 00:35:25.840 When men do what they're supposed to do, women and children shouldn't have to worry. 00:35:29.000 --> 00:35:30.600 God calls us to run... 00:35:30.600 --> 00:35:38.040 guys listen, with endurance to the benefit of your family and those around you, those under your influence 00:35:38.040 --> 00:35:39.240 for the cause of Christ. 00:35:41.060 --> 00:35:42.260 Women, God made you strong. 00:35:43.760 --> 00:35:46.610 But men I really want to highlight the fact that God made you strong. 00:35:48.360 --> 00:35:52.840 In fact when you look at the curse in the Garden of Eden, He's talking about the furl of your brow, the sweat, right? 00:35:53.240 --> 00:35:55.020 And the tilling of the ground. 00:35:55.820 --> 00:36:00.260 I mean God made us, He said be fruitful, multiple, and subdue the world. 00:36:00.300 --> 00:36:07.440 That is a blessing to the society around you, so understand that God made yo strong and to reflect His glory in 00:36:07.440 --> 00:36:07.960 this world. 00:36:08.920 --> 00:36:16.140 When we don't, when we use the strength that God gave us for our own personal glory, what ends up happening is we rape 00:36:16.140 --> 00:36:16.480 the world. 00:36:19.340 --> 00:36:26.580 We use everything that God has created for His glory to the benefit to others for our own glory, and we pillage and rape for our own 00:36:26.580 --> 00:36:31.320 purposes and pleasures whether it be money, power, fame, sexuality... 00:36:33.960 --> 00:36:41.100 and that is the curse of sexuality in our culture, is that we treat women like tools rather than human beings created in God's image. 00:36:41.300 --> 00:36:48.320 That's because men take the strength that God has given them, and they use 00:36:48.320 --> 00:36:49.230 it for their own glory. 00:36:53.280 --> 00:37:00.420 When we run this race for God's glory, it's 00:37:00.420 --> 00:37:02.380 to the benefit of the world around us. 00:37:03.780 --> 00:37:05.630 What is the context of your race? 00:37:07.000 --> 00:37:14.320 This is a good spot for just a course correction, readjust, think of life before those that God desires in your context 00:37:14.320 --> 00:37:16.260 to honor in this season of life. 00:37:18.120 --> 00:37:25.420 Relationship to spouse, kids, church, community, job, whatever it is, you've been surrounded by such a 00:37:25.540 --> 00:37:27.790 great cloud of witnesses. 00:37:28.220 --> 00:37:35.520 Run this race with endurance, looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of 00:37:35.540 --> 00:37:35.740 your faith. 00:37:36.200 --> 00:37:38.060 He is the goal.